L2 limiter plugin...how to use

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pietro79

New member
hello

I've been trying to use the L2 Limiter plugin and am a little confused.

I am working at 24bit / 48Hz with the intention of putting this audio to CD, so converting the audio to 16bit / 44.1HZ at the last stage.

I need to use the limiter on the audio, so I guess I should requantize for 16bit at the same time...

using the audio suite L2 doesn't make any sense, does it? You can process the audio for 16bit, but it's still within the 24bit session setup... so isn't it requantizing for 16bit and then instantly putting it back to 24bit (because the session's in 24bit)? useless, right? or am i missing something?

so the only way to use the L2 limiter and requantize for 16bit (coming out of the 24bit) is to set it as an inserted plugin at the output, and bounce it? ...no but that would still change it back to 24 as it's bouncing it and then convert to 16bit after... arg, confused... how do you guys use it?

thank you!

pietro
pietro79@hotmail.com
 
I assume you're using Pro Tools...

this is one of the questions I have had for a long time with Pro Tools; how it handles bit depth conversions at different stages.

Simply enough, put the L2 on the master fader and only select the 16 bit option only when you're ready to bounce down. I use Maxim and I've always assumed that it's adding dither whenever I select the 16 bit option...so in other words I'm hearing noise added to the 24 bit signal while mixing. But when bouncing down to 16 is when the noise actually matters.

Don't use Audio Suite though....'cause yes, that's only going to requantize...especially in TDM systems.
However, I also want to suggest that you ALWAYS add a dither to the signal (even if you're working in 16 bit). This is because LE uses 24 bit I/O paths and 32 bit floating processing and mixing (TDM uses 48 bit)
 
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It's important to remember that just because the format is 24 bit, it doesn't mean that all 24 bits are being used. If you dither to 16bit and record that into a 24 bit session, there will be nothing above 16 bits. That will just be empty data.

So what you do after you've dithered to 16 bits, is then save the 24 bit audio files as a 16 bit. This will truncate the data above 16 bits, but since there is no data above 16 bits it won't change anything. Just remember not to dither this second time, it should be a simple truncation.

Also, I would suggest that when recording audio intended for CD that you record it at 44.1 or 88.2. For whatever reason, I've never really cared for the sound of 48k converted to 44.1k.
 
Heh, you just answered a question I had for a long time but didn't quite understand. I mean, why add the option to dither to 16 when you can do it in the DAW? But now it all makes sense. I think.
 
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